Minister Ali at Global Water Partnership-Caribbean AG meeting
“If it is that we are truly going through a crisis, then why are we not seeing the same levels of attention that is given to the financial and food crisis attached to the water crisis?” – Minister Irfaan Ali

Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali (right) with GWP-C Chair, Wayne Joseph (second right), GWI Scientific Services Manager, Savitri Jetoo and Professor and Head of the Faculty of Engineering Department of Land Surveying and Information of the University of the West Indies, Jacob Opadeyi (left).

This point was emphasized by Minister of Housing and Water Mr. Irfaan Ali during his address at the opening of the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean’s fourth annual meeting of the General Assembly at the Grand Coastal Inn, La Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara on Saturday last.

“Unlike many other islands and countries in the Caribbean, in Guyana, in one of the counties – Essequibo- there are 365 islands and in these islands we have to provide water, not only potable water for the residents but for irrigation and agriculture…It would be an excellent opportunity for you to visit some of these areas to see the magnitude of infrastructure that we have to deliver in order to have our people have access to this essential commodity,” Minister Ali told participants at the meeting.

Minister of Housing and Water Irfaan Ali

“These are important factors that we need to consider as we gather in forums like these to share and exchange ideas to benefit, improve and accomplish goals set out in the sector,” the Minister said.

Ali also challenged the representatives in their discussions to analyze the global battle by countries such as Guyana for the compensation for the Carbon credit initiative.

“I think you should discuss here too in this session to see the positive impact (Carbon Credit initiative) will have on water resource management and sustainability of our water resources…The question, however, is whether the water sector is going through a crisis or whether we are going through a challenge.”

“If it is that we are truly going through a crisis then why are we not seeing the same levels of attention that is given to the financial and food crisis attached to the water crisis?” he queried.

Minister Ali noted that if countries are serious of meeting the objectives of the 2015 MDG of cutting by half the people without access to potable water and sanitation, the developing world need to immediately double its expenditure on water.

“The question is can we do this especially at a time like this where there is scarcity of resources, the watering down of development aid? How are we going to do this? We are less than six years to go before 2015 and if we are to achieve this we have to double the resources that we are going to spend in the water sector. This is a challenge…The fact of the matter is, a number of countries here in the Caribbean and wider afield especially in the developing world when faced with challenges, cut social programmes,” he said.

The Minister further urged representatives to assess the development aid being channelled to the region in the water sector and to see whether the policy and direction is to reduce such aid in the water sector.

“We need to take strong decisions on these issues in assessing the impact of the financing gap, to come up with strong recommendations and solutions to address this issue at the governmental level, regional level and also at a developing and financing level which includes our development partner in the World Bank and IDB.”

Minister Ali told the stakeholders that the message of water as a balanced commodity between economic and social needs, will have to be propagated in a more proactive manner.

“If we are speaking about sustainable future of water, it needs to be enshrined in the highest level of economic and social planning. In the Caribbean, are we willing at this forum to come up with ways in which we can demonstrate the importance and management of water and the integration of a framework in the management of water in the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME)?…We speak about integration in the Water Resource Management but how integrated are our regulations and laws? Is it even integrated? These are questions we must answer. The purpose of forums like these is to examine in-depth the various measures, regulations and policies to ensure that our general objective, as defined here, will be reflected in the policies, legislations, rules, regulations and the guidelines that we developed,” Minister Ali told participants at the opening of the meeting.

Scientific Services Manager of the Guyana Water Incorporated, Savitri Jetoo stated that the Caribbean region faces many serious challenges with the current global financial crisis which adds to the huge pressures countries have been experiencing as special vulnerable Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

She noted that one such pressure is the global climate change which has already been causing severe damage to the small countries’ physical, social and economic infrastructure. Unfortunately, in the coming years, the impact is expected to increase significantly.

“An area of major concern is the availability and integrity of fresh water resources in all of our countries. This requires us therefore to intensify our efforts to develop our Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) policies and actions with the greatest urgency. Towards this end, the role of the Caribbean Water Partnership is critical,” she said.

Saturday’s meeting was to promote an integrated approach to water resource management (WRM) at the community, national and regional levels through supporting sustainable partnerships of stakeholders, strategic alliances and the implementation of appropriate action at relevant levels.

The meeting saw representatives from several Caribbean and European countries including Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Grenada and Sweden.

The meeting included the election of new members of the Steering Committee to pilot the partnership for the next three years, the incorporation of its five-year strategic work plan for 2009-2013 and discussions and presentations of 2009 work plans and strategic goals for the GWP-C.

These strategic goals are: Support countries to put into practice better water resource management for water security, promote water resources management to address adaptation to climate change and other critical challenges, position GWP as the thought leader and pre-eminent advocate of water resources management through the creation of a global communication platform and reinforce network for effective performance.

GWP-C, a working partnership among all stakeholders in water management within the Caribbean, was launched in June 2004 in Tobago. The partnership has a network covering 20 countries with over 47 partners. It also seeks to promote a stakeholder approach and have been involved at the Ministerial level.